Move cautiously on streetcar plan

Published 12:00 am, Sunday, March 7, 2010

While a multimodal transportation system for downtown is alluring, city officials should take time to study the issue carefully.

While a multimodal transportation system for downtown is alluring, city officials should take time to study the issue carefully.

Move cautiously on streetcar plan

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

On their own, the costs associated with building a “starter” streetcar system in downtown San Antonio should be enough to raise the eyebrows of city and county leaders. The price tag to lay 2.2 miles of track, purchase vehicles, build infrastructure and other associated costs is as much as $90 million.

If that figure isn't sufficient to warrant a cautious approach, then history should. In the 1980s, VIA, the city and downtown property owners launched another high-profile effort to remake downtown San Antonio — the controversial $41 million Downtown TriParty Transportation Improvements Project.

Bad planning and even worse execution marred TriParty.

TriParty was officially completed in 1991. In fact, the city spent much of the following decade trying to repair, undo and litigate the mistakes TriParty created.

In a meeting with the Editorial Board of the Express-News, representatives of VIA Metropolitan Transit, the City of San Antonio and Bexar County made clear that no decision has yet been made on whether to endorse the streetcar plan. A public commission and a technical advisory committee are running parallel reviews, while VIA has requested an economic impact study it says is essential to determining whether streetcars are feasible.

Woman ejected from SUV dies when vehicle lands on top of herSan Antonio Express-News

Squatter blamed for blaze at S.A. homeSan Antonio Express-News

2 women cut each other in knife fightSan Antonio Express-News

Mom rolls SUV off S.A. highway on way to child's schoolSan Antonio Express-News

Body Goes Missing From Funeral Home — and Family's Lawyers Blame Employee Who Was 'Into Satan'People

4 suspects detained after leading police in chase across San AntonioSan Antonio Express-News

San Antonio shooting victim walks to store, waves while being carted into ambulanceSan Antonio Express-News

Mayor Julián Castro described the streetcar system as an essential component of a “renaissance in the urban core of the city.”

He may be right. And the results of VIA's two-month economic impact study should shed more light on this issue.

Restoring downtown San Antonio's vitality is critical for the community. Leaders of VIA, the city and the county deserve credit for exploring a creative plan that may play a central role in that effort. How that plan is developed is just as important as how much it may cost taxpayers.

But it certainly seems as though the decision-making process is moving too quickly. The study and the work of the public commission and technical committee are scheduled to be completed in time for the VIA board of trustees to render a policy decision by late spring.

That timeline is largely driven by guidelines for $25 million in federal grants VIA is seeking in support of the project. But $25 million in federal funding for an inadequately considered plan doesn't make it any better.

The lure of a multimodal transportation system for downtown San Antonio is seductive. It may even make good fiscal and economic sense. But public officials should take the time to be certain by studying the issue carefully, planning appropriately and seeking public support — even if that means putting the federal funding at risk.